Deschamps chases old flame Marseille

Posted
February 21, 2003 12:41:00

Didier Deschamps, the only Frenchman to captain a club to the European Cup, has his sights set on his old side Olympique Marseille this weekend.

Deschamps, now coach to Monaco, led Marseille to the 1993 European title a year after Marseille won their last league title in a season that was later discredited by disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie's match-fixing scandal.

Second-placed Monaco, unbeaten for 11 matches, face fourth-placed Auxerre on the Riviera on Sunday hoping to improve on their 1-1 draw in Burgundy last October before Deschamps' side had got into their stride.

That would keep the pressure on Marseille who can maintain their two-point lead against relegation-threatened Lille on Saturday.

Auxerre, beaten 1-0 at home by Nantes in their last league match and knocked out of the League Cup by Monaco, might be jaded after takling English Premiership side Liverpool in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday.

Deschamps had a difficult first season at Monaco when he admitted his blunt-talking ruffled feathers.

"Now I try to be more of a diplomat," said France's most capped international, who also went on to win the European Cup with Juventus.

He refused to talk about winning the championship.

"But if we're in the first three with three matches left I fancy our chances. But we've got some way to go yet," said France's 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championship captain.

Deschamps said his settled defensive tandem of Sebastien Squillaci and Julien Rodriguez was responsible for their good run.

Monaco have conceded just four goals in their last 11 matches, winning seven and drawing four.

But Monaco will be without first-choice goalkeeper Flavio Roma, who got a knock in an eye during the warm-up for the Lyon match.

The only cloud on the horizon was the club's debts of 53 million euros which could cost the side their first division place under the league's strict financial regulations.

Early-season pace-setters Nice, who had to fight for their place in the first division because of their own cash problems last June, travel to Corsica for a clash with Bastia.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.